Camping At Navajo Lake

 We felt up for a camping adventure last month so we went for it and headed up to Navajo Lake for a one night camping trip. It was so nice up the mountain and fun to get the kids out in the dirt.

The boys loved having a fire. They loved breaking sticks and tossing them in the fire.  

The boys pigged out on graham crackers all evening.

Levi rolled around in the dirt while he zoomed his tractor around.

Malachi had a rock and was copying Adrian pounding the tent stakes in.

It was super windy down by the lake. Luckily our campsite was not as windy.

Malachi always has his hands full of as many rocks as he can possibly carry. Malachi was very attracted to the water so we took his shoes off and let him dip his toes in the cold water.

We put the kids to bed late because we thought they would have to be really really tired before they would fall asleep in the tent. They played for a while in the tent before they laid down it only took a couple hours before we realized they were never going to be able to sleep in the tent. The main factor was that it was so cold and boys would not stay under the blankets. They were cold so they started to cry and we just decided to just pack up and  go home at one in the morning. 

They boys loved to get out in the mountains. They love exploring and getting dirty. 

Levi talks about camping all the time and I know even if the trip seems like a failure we are creating happy memories with our family :)

Back in Cedar City

We now officially live in Cedar City, Ut. We have not lived in Cedar our entire married life of 6 years. We are so excited to be back close to family and have already had so much fun. We will be in Cedar for a year before we move again for residency. 

We live in a cute 3 bedroom house on the East side of town and we are really enjoying the house and especially this part of town. We are close to many parks, Coal Creek, the creek trail, the library, and Lin's. We have always spent much time outside playing and this location has a lot to offer. 

We are part of the 1st ward and attend church in the "Rock Church" building. Levi knows we go to the rock church and I'm hoping he knows it's still the church of Jesus Christ and not the church of rocks. Levi has told me already that he has friends in nursery and that he likes going to nursery. 

Just about every day after the boys nap when it is the hottest time of day we eat an otter pop or two in the backyard. We also usually have the pool or sprinkler out to cool off in.

Malachi is very attracted to mud. He seems to always find it if there is any to be found. We live next to an empty lot so we have plenty of dirt/mud to play in.

I usually clean when the boys are asleep, but one day I decided to wipe down my bathroom really quick while they were awake. I noticed an odd silence and when I checked on the boys they had gotten out a box of cereal from the pantry and both had their mouths and hands stuffed full. After putting the cereal back I went back to cleaning and few minutes later there was an odd silence again (my boys are usually loud when they play). I found they had snuck the chocolate milk mix from the pantry and were shoving handfuls of mix into their mouths. One boy alone probably would not do it, but put the two together and they egg each other on.

 I then had to sweep, mop, vacuum the little chocolate mix footprints off the carpet and bathe the boys. 

We've learned the creek water is warmest to play in in the evening. I run a few times a week (while pushing the two boys in the jogging stroller) along the creek trail. Often times we've tried to play in the creek in the morning and the water is too cold. The boys love to play at the canyon parks where they can explore and find rocks, sticks and dandelions. Most things they pick up end up floating down the stream in the park where they watch it go down. Levi loves to walk through a dry creek bed and go through the tunnel that goes under the trail. We often follow the creek bed to the river and he pretends we're going on a bear hunt (like the We're Going On A Bear Hunt book).

Malachi loves the rocks around our house. I've found a lot of black widow spiders around the house and have been a little hesitant to let the boys roam and explore around house, but I can't really stop them. I've been trying to get rid of the black widows and have killed a lot, but I'm now noticing baby black widows all round the house. I'm starting to obsess about them, but I guess I have to realize I can't eliminate them and I hope my boys don't get bitten.

Levi is all about having fun. He laughs loud and gets excited easily over simple things. He will even tell me "I'm so excited". He is a fun kid to be around and his joy radiates all around him. And on the flip side, he also gets very grumpy and will growl and scream at me if things don't go his way.
 Levi has begun to say "how come?" all the time. I'll give him an explanation and he will say "how come?" to that too. I've finally started telling him "you tell me" and he likes to give his reason for things.  Another common thing he says is "what will happen?".
I have taught him what it means to obey and he's told me a few times "Sometimes I obey, and sometimes I choose not to obey". 

I absolutely love Levi's run. He has short little steps and his arms flail all about him. Brings a smile to my face every time I see it. He loves running up and down the ditch at my parent's house while he floats his boat down the water.

We were at the canyon park one evening playing in the sand with our sand toys and hauling water from the stream to play with too. When we were cleaning up and getting ready to go I noticed Levi's shorts sitting on the sidewalk. As I asked Levi why his shorts were off I noticed his underwear was on the sidewalk sitting by his shorts. He was bare bummed at the park and we were right in front the pavilion where a big party was going on. He told me his clothes were wet and he did not want to wear them wet. We've since had a talk about not letting people see us without clothes or just in our underwear. He likes to play with the blinds in my bedroom and open and close them and I frequently have to tell him to shut the blinds because I'm not dressed and don't want people to see me in my underwear. I was folding clothes on my bed one day and he shut my window blinds and told me "we don't want people to see you folding clothes" in the same serious concerned tone we use about people seeing us in our underwear. I got a good laugh :)

This morning as I pulled Malachi from his bed I noticed Levi was in the bathroom. I asked Levi what he was up to and his response was "leave mom, Malachi is hungry, go feed him". Levi never tells me to leave so I knew he was up to something he thought I would disapprove. A few minutes later I went back to the bathroom and Levi had the sink clear full of water. (He just learned how to plug up the sink). He was watching the water go down the tiny little drain hole at the top of the sink. He was so excited to see the water go down the drain. He still has a fascination with drains. In fact, we went to the swimming pool yesterday and he spent quite a bit of time peering into the drains that run all around the outside of the pool!

Malachi seems mellow, but it is deceiving because Malachi, just like Levi, is very stubborn. Malachi is able to entertain himself easily and is usually content meandering around checking things out. At the end of the day I often feel like I don't give him as much attention/time as I should because Levi demands my attention and Malachi is content by himself. Poor guy. 

Malachi is a really good eater, but he has become so picky lately that he won't even try most foods I put in front of him.

 He is teething and is working on cutting 4 molars right now.

He will often hand toys to other kids for them to play with. I'm not sure where this came from because Levi always swipes his toys and rarely hands Malachi a toy to play with. 

When Levi is in his room throwing a fit and crying/ screaming it upsets Malachi a bit. Malachi will go over to Levi's door and touch the door and I can tell it distresses Malachi. Oftentimes Malachi will stick his fingers under Levi's door and they will play back and forth under the door.

Malachi is a bit sensitive. If someone (other than me) tells him a stern "no" or to stop doing something he will run away and burst into tears and acts like he got his feelings really hurt. 

One cute thing he has started to do is rub/grab his head any time it gets bumped.
He also jibber jabbers quite a bit. He only says a few words, but he jabbers all the time like he knows exactly what he's saying. I love to hear it!

A couple days after we moved to Cedar, Adrian had to leave for a rotation. He was doing family medicine at the clinic at the Bullfrog Marina at Lake Powell. He did 10 days on, 4 days off, 10 days on. He came back to Cedar during his 4 days off and stayed at Lake Powell the rest of the time. He took my car for the first trip and left me with his tiny eclipse with the two kids. We were very crowded in his tiny car :)

 He got to see mainly urgent care stuff. The thing he did the most was stitches. 

He sent me this picture one day saying he made buddies with the park rangers and they gave keys to the only gym around, which happened to be at the fire station. 

He also spent one day with the coast guard on their boat. They pulled people over in their boats and Adrian said he learned a lot about the rules/regulations of boating.

The owner of the clinic took Adrian for an airplane ride over Lake Powell. The owner was also a pilot instructor and he let Adrian sit in the pilot seat and help fly the plane!! Here's the plane they were in.

Adrian is now convinced that he and I need to get our pilot licenses and a small airplane :)

When Adrian got back from his rotation the boys were like leeches to him. Each one would get very jealous  if Adrian gave attention to the other boy.

Last days in Clinton

In May, we hiked Adam's Canyon near Layton. It is about 4 miles round trip to see a waterfall.  Malachi got packed in the backpack the whole time and he did great. He seemed to enjoy the ride. Levi walked most of the way which was a big feat for him. The trail mostly followed a creek upwards and at times it was very steep and we had to climb over boulders. I had to carry Levi the last bit up to the waterfall because it was so steep and tiring for him. We had to cross the creek once right as we got to the waterfall. The wind was blowing at the waterfall and causing a cold mist we could not get out of so we did not stay long at the waterfall. Levi walked the entire way down with my help and I was so proud of him. The last bit going down was sandy switchbacks. Levi loves to play in the sand and he was literally rolling down the sand as if they were grassy hills. He had so much fun hiking and frequently asks to go on more hikes to waterfalls. 

Had to throw this picture in. I think it was taken in March. Grandpa Darryl and the boys.

Here's Malachi during church. Yes, he is outside. At this age we basically walk the halls most of church because he is too active.

Here's the boys at a ward BBQ/Party. We were only in Clinton for just under a year and had to leave another set of friends we made. I always feel the worst for Levi having to to leave his friends. He doesn't understand he will never see them again. He still talks about his two good buddies often.

This is what 2 toddlers and a can of shaving cream end up as!

These boys love to be outside. We go for walks at least once a day. Levi usually rides his balance bike (which he can totally lift his feet up and balance for a ways) and Malachi has grown into Levi's old smaller bike and likes to putt around on it. Malachi likes to explore and rides for a bit, but always ends up off the bike to pick up sticks or rocks. He loves sticks and rocks and always has both hands full when we are outside. In fact, we were playing in the creek one day (in Cedar) and he fell down in the water and couldn't get back up because he would let go all the sticks he had in both hands despite being unable to get his head out of the water.

 Here the boys are on the canal trail in Clinton looking through the fence at the tunnels where the water is going. Levi currently has a fascination with drains and tunnels right now and we frequently follow ditches to see the tunnels and drains they come out of and go into.

Adrian had a free day from school/work and bagged his studying to go on a family bike ride. We rode on the paved trail that follows the Ogden River. We started in downtown Ogden near the temple and rode maybe a mile up the trail and back. It was a beautiful day and riding next the river was very enjoyable. It was easy enough for Levi and Malachi was great in the trailer seeing the sights.  I towed Malachi while Adrian rode next to Levi and kept him going. 

 Adrian took this picture of me mowing the lawn and told me I totally showed him up in mowing the lawn. I grew up mowing lawns and have a bit more experience in this area :)

My boys are fish when they get in the water! They roll around and splash like crazy.

 Had to capture this moment!! I remember Levi doing the exact same thing with the same hamper at the same age as Malachi. In fact, Levi still does it.

I cannot give one boy something without the other boy having to have or do the same exact thing.  Both boys get pretty jealous and demand equal treatment. They also copy each other and think it's hilarious.

Adrian, happy after a day of hard work.

 Our very last day in Clinton. This is the morning we moved (June 1st). My parents had come and got the boys a few days earlier so we could finish packing and cleaning and loading without having to worry about them. Adrian drove the big 26 foot moving truck towing his eclipse and I drove the corolla down to Cedar. We were stressed that morning because Adrian's car had been in the shop getting the engine rebuilt and it was finally done at 9:00 a.m. the morning we moved. They sure drug it out until the last possible minute.